Christy is a social researcher of health, sexuality and relationships. She is particularly interested in the way contemporary ideas about inclusivity and diversity are promoted and problematised in health policy and practice, especially in the fields of sexual and reproductive health, blood borne virus prevention and care, child and family wellbeing, mental health, cancer care, migrant and refugee health, and Aboriginal health. Throughout her work, Christy aims to facilitate intersections across the social and biomedical sciences, and between research, policy, clinical and community domains.

Dr Asha PerssonSenior Research Fellow, Chief Investigator

Centre for Social Research in Health
Level 2, John Goodsell Building
UNSW NSW 2052

Dr Asha Persson is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Arts and Social Sciences, where over 15 years she has developed a research program that is not only conceptually innovative but also addresses concrete problems and informs practice. Her research aims to draw attention to the experiences and needs of previously hidden and under­researched populations in the HIV epidemic, including HIV­positive people with iatrogenic body shape changes, heterosexual men and women, children growing up with HIV, and serodiscordant couples. In opening up these areas of inquiry, her research has produced new scholarly knowledge of the cultural interplay between illness, medicine, gender, sexuality and society. This research has also contributed to local and international understandings and debates around these populations and has played a valuable role in local program design and service delivery for people living with HIV.

Associate Professor kylie valentine is the Deputy Director and an Associate Professor at the Social Policy Research Centre, in UNSW Arts and Social Sciences. Her research interests include the impact of human services policies and programs; and the application of methods and concepts from the sociology of knowledge to new areas and concerns, with a specific focus on social disadvantage and exclusion. kylie conducts evaluation research on integrated service delivery and programs for children and families, and has expertise in qualitative methodologies and evaluation design. She has held significant leadership responsibilities in maintaining relationships with research partners in government and non­government agencies.

Dr Myra HamiltonSenior Research Fellow, Chief Investigator

Social Policy Research Centre
Level 2, John Goodsell Building
UNSW NSW 2052

Dr Myra Hamilton is a Senior Research Fellow at the Social Policy Research Centre, in UNSW Arts and Social Sciences. She has developed a research program focused on understanding how families experience, understand and respond to health and illness at different stages of the lifecourse. Conceptually, her contribution has been to understanding the relationship between states, families and individuals in managing risks such as health and illness and the need to provide care at different stages of the lifecourse. It has extended current thinking about the concept of care and the impact it has on families and challenged an individualised approach to risk in favour of an approach that situates the experience and management of risk in social and familial contexts. Empirically, her research program has advanced knowledge of families’ involvement in managing health and illness. It has also had an explicit focus on, and made an important contribution to, improving policy and service provision for people experiencing adversity with a particular focus on supporting families and carers and has had a tangible impact on policy and
practice.

Dr Joanne BryantSenior Research Fellow, Chief Investigator

Centre for Social Research in Health
Level 2, John Goodsell Building
UNSW NSW 2052

Dr Joanne Bryant is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Arts and Social Sciences. Her main areas of research include illicit and injecting drug use among vulnerable youth populations including homeless and disenfranchised young people, and Indigenous youth. She has published widely about issues relating to risk reduction, including about needle sharing between heterosexual couples, population level syringe coverage, and novel methods of harm reduction such as secondary exchange or peer distribution. Her main contributions to the fields of relevance to this project have been in understanding social aspects of hepatitis C prevention and treatment. This includes her notable contribution beginning in 2010 of identifying Hepatitis C serodiscordance in intimate heterosexual relationships as a necessary and important topic of academic enquiry.

Dr Kerryn DrysdaleResearch Associate

Centre for Social Research in Health
Level 2, John Goodsell Building
UNSW NSW 2052

Kerryn Drysdale is a Research Associate at the Centre for Social Research in Health, located within UNSW Arts and Social Sciences. Her disciplinary background is in cultural studies, with a particular focus on LGBTQ social scenes, identities and practices. She is currently working on a number of projects relating to blood-borne virus prevention and treatment. Kerryn’s interests lie broadly in LGBTQ cultures and social spaces, urban night time economies policy and planning, andsocial justice initiatives around substance use among same-sex attracted and sex/gender diverse people.

Dr Jack WallaceSenior Research Officer, Partner Investigator

Australian Research Centre in Sex,
Health and Society
La Trobe University

Jack Wallace is a Senior Research Officer at The Burnet Institute in Melbourne. His research looks at hepatitis B as a phenomenon where the biomedical, social, economic and political intersect, and investigates how viral hepatitis affects individuals and communities and shapes social relations and social practices. His projects have included needs assessments of hepatitis B in Australia and China, policy assessments of viral hepatitis in Taiwan, Indonesia and Tasmania, and investigations into how people with hepatitis B and health care workers understand and respond to hepatitis B. He has worked in community, government and research sectors seeking to reduce the personal and community impact of blood borne viruses, particularly viral hepatitis. He is an Executive Member of the Coalition to Eradicate Viral Hepatitis in the Asia Pacific.